Philharmonie Royale Concordia
Many years had to pass before the band could experience once again another trip. Nevertheless, this time was different since the musical society of St lawrence invited a foreign band for the feast of St Lawrence in 2010, the Philharmonie Royale Concordia from Ottignies, Belgium. This belgian band came to visit Malta from the 5th till 12th August whilst the St Lawrence Band Club went to visit Belgium from the 11th till 18th December.
During their visit, the Philharmonie Royale Concordia played in the St Lawrence village in Gozo, twice in Birgu as part of St Lawrence’s feast and performed another musical programme held in Marsaxlokk. Apart from that, the band went to different cultural excursions including Valletta, Mdina, Cottonera, Blue Grotto and Ħaġar Qim and Imnajdra Temples. One has to mention the Musical Programme Vittoriosa in Festa held on the 7th August where the two bands played together on the marvellous bandstand in front of an enormous crowd covering the whole square. In honour of this exchange, a function was organised for the officials and band members of both bands on 10th August.
Philharmonie Royale Concordia
In 1860, a small group of people in Ottignies city wanted to create music. Their dream came true after only two years since in 1862, this group formed a small band named Fanfare des amis réunis et de la concorde. This new band began to participate in different musical festivals, one of them being the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Independence of Belgium. After a short period of time, the same band changed its name to Fanfare Concordia. In the beginning of the 20th century, the band Fanfare Concordia celebrated their 40th anniversary from their foundation and the Belgian’s King, Leopold ll entitled them as Royale. In the early 60’s, Marcel Ancion, graduated in the Conservatory of Brussels, became the Soloist in the La Monnaie Theatre and became the conductor/principal director for the band Royale Fanfare Concordia.
The dynamics and professionalism of the conductor / principal director of the band, gave a new energy to the band members which helped them to further improve. In fact, this band started to increase its activities by organising different concerts, participating and organising musical competitions, organised tours and also recorded music for films. They became much more popular and successful after the recordings for the film The Smurfs.
During this period, the band opened its doors to both children and youths from musical schools in the same area. In 1978, the band was renamed as the Philharmonie Royale Concordia (their present name) and participated in a popular game show in Arosa, Switzerland called “The games without frontiers”, very popular in all Europe. In 1985, the PRC participated in an International Musical Competition in Luxembourg. In this competition the band was ranked in the highest category.
The band played in different countries around Europe such as Sheffield and Hyde in England, Chenôve and Rennes in France, Trier in Germany and Clervaux in Luxembourg.
Apart from that, the PRC was involved in different musical exchanges, in Germany (Emmerthal and Esslingen) and France (Jassans). It was precisely during this period, in 1984, that the Philharmonie Royale Concordia recorded their second Album. In 1987, this band celebrated its 125 years anniversary from when it was formed and for this particular occasion, they recorded another album in collaboration with the famous Pianist Daniel Blumenthal which is considered as a p restigious album.
In the late 80’s, the PRC competed again for the highest category in the music competition held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. It was of a great success since they qualified for the final and won with the highest scores being 120 of 120. Further in the years, the band played the difficult but popular music the Carmina Burana a musical composition produced by Carl Orff. This symphony was played accompanied by different choirs and soloists from Wallonia and Brussels.
Nowadays the PRC is a famous established band which takes part in various popular activities, performs various concerts and takes part in various musical exchanges both in Belgium and in other countries. Amongst their recent successes one can’t fail to mention their participation in the Boleil Music Night in 2005, the organization of the Tour Chœurs et orchestre and the oratory on the legend of St George in October 2006, where two soloists joined the Belgian band from La chapelle Reine Elisabeth.